Here's why you should think about shooting for stock footage [sponsored]

Shooting stock footage can bring benefits to anyone with the ability to capture good quality material. All you need is some ideas and a camera.

When you work as a video maker, you often have to work to a strict set of instructions. Your client’s brief could stipulate everything from composition, grading, and editing style. But when you make stock footage - the style belongs to you. Creating stock footage frees you from the shackles of a rigid workflow and lets you to shoot on your own terms.

Want to try out some new types of composition? Making stock footage for a website like Adobe Stock is a great way to go, because unique and unusual shots might be exactly what a stock footage customer might be looking for - and might not find anywhere else.. This extends to lighting too. You will be in control, able to experiment and develop your style without the pressures of a tight deadline, all the while knowing that your work has the potential to earn money.

Sometimes when your day-to-day work is slow, making the effort to to go out to collect stock footage is a great way to stay in practice and to keep your skills honed. All aspects of filming stock have their equivalents in other facets of video production work. But because each individual shot is being made on your own terms, it gives you the time to really think about the composition, and, more generally about how to present your subject matter.

What’s more, being a stock footage contributor allows you to focus on the subjects that you love. It doesn’t matter what makes you go that extra mile: shooting footage that excites or fascinates you means that you’ll do whatever’s needed to get great material.   Shoot subjects that really matter to you - and you won’t be able to help getting great images.. And the best part of it is that you get the time and opportunity to present your work in in your own way.

Shooting stock footage of subjects you love is a great way to build a library

Self-development is an important part of being a creative professional, and it will always be helpful to step back and take the opportunity to explore new avenues; new creative fields.

Stock footage gives you a chance to find new ways to work, as well as generating different ideas and visions for crafting all kinds of material.

If you want to stand out from the background noise, you need offer something that’s different; that’s going to grab someone’s attention..   Making Stock footage forces you to think in new ways about about your work and - ultimately - your audience. .

And you can apply this type of thinking applies to other genres of video production work too, helping you to be more effective at producing targeted, useful content. Producing quality stock footage that actually sells needs careful thought, foresight, and planning, and and you can absolutely take what you discover from this to your client-produced work as well.

You will learn to use light better, your composition will improve, and your thought process will be more effective. You’ll get more out of your shots.  You’ll be better and more focussed, breaking your work down into ways that make more sense, ultimately, for viewers. And this is all possible because you will be working on your own terms.

This type of work will free up your sense of style and may help you to flourish. (Something that isn’t always possible in the intense world of client-based video production where experimentation and untested ideas can be a tough sell!)

What’s great about producing stock footage is that you’re not answerable to anyone. That’s a creative freedom you don’t get in normal day-to-day work.  So not only do you add new and different types of work to your portfolio, but you build a catalogue of shots to show potential clients.

As you can see, making stock footage can offer a number of practical as well as creative benefits.

It’s new source of income - and creative freedom. Think about shooting stock footage: it could be the creative outlet that you’ve been looking for.

If you want to become a stock footage contributor, head on over to Adobe Stock now and begin to unleash your creative side.